7 Dismembered bodies found in northern Mexico

The dismembered bodies of seven men were found Sunday in Torreon, a city in the northern Mexican state of Coahuila, police said.

The human remains were found around 2:00 a.m. at an abandoned ranch, the police investigative division said.

Investigators went to the ranch in the Obispado district after receiving an anonymous tip.

"Seven trunks of the masculine sex and different body parts, such as hands, arms, legs and feet, as well as heads, were found in six black plastic bags," the police investigative division said.

The remains were taken to the coroner's office so they can be examined and identified, police said.

The bodies of two men, meanwhile, were found in the streets of Torreon, police said.

The victims, who were approximately 22 and 30, were apparently gunned down, police said.

Torreon is in the La Laguna region, which includes parts of Coahuila and neighboring Durango state.

The region is at the center of a brutal turf war between the Los Zetas and Sinaloa drug cartels, with the Zetas controlling Coahuila's largest cities, including Saltillo, the state capital, Torreon and Piedras Negras.

President Enrique Peña Nieto, who was inaugurated on Saturday, announced 13 decisions, including the creation of a national crime-prevention program that will combat the nation's incessant violence with comprehensive measures.

"I'm convinced that crime is not defeated by force," Peña Nieto said in his first address to the nation.

The crime-prevention program ranks No. 1 among his most immediate objectives, which also include a series of legal and administrative reforms to combat poverty while promoting investment and controlling government spending.

Some 60,000 people died in drug-related violence during the 2006-2012 administration of Felipe Calderon, who militarized the struggle against Mexico's violent, well-funded cartels by deploying tens of thousands of army soldiers to drug-war hotspots. EFE